I was going to post a CL deal the other day....then I chose not to. I always seem to get the 3rd degree. Seems like half think posting good CL deals is screwing someone. The other half think the good out weigh the bad so post away. I think I'll keep it simple, yay or nay. Just a little human experiment to entertain me. I'm bored, driving to Miami....3 more hours.

There is a pretty strong divide on this issue. About half the people have no problem with it, and the other half think it is absolutely wrong. While I personally am cool with it, I do feel that both sides have a pretty good argument.

I would not. Let the people who want it find it on their own. If it is a steal of a deal the seller will get a bunch of responses and there is a good chance of screwing someone over. I know you are trying to help, but if you cannot get the machine, just let it be.

No way. If the deal is good, by the time you post the seller has 10+ calls. Good deals get pounced on immediately. However, if you post and then seller gets 100 calls in addition to the origial 10+ it could very well kill the deal.

No way. If the deal is good, by the time you post the seller has 10+ calls. Good deals get pounced on immediately. However, if you post and then seller gets 100 calls in addition to the origial 10+ it could very well kill the deal.
It can't help, it can only hurt.

+1

EDIT: I'm ASSuming this only pertain(t)s to Good deals. I posted a $2300 DH because that's not a good deal, and it has been posted for like 9 months. Of course the price did drop a little after I posted it...hmmm.

Like reading the stock report in the news paper - yesterdays old news
the young sharks out there are so fast with the new tech. if they really want it they get it.
Working cats that traditionally wait for the weekend to go pinball hunting are the one's who get clobbered the most.
I see nothing wrong posting what you see perhaps 5-6 hrs latter?

jalpert said:
No way. If the deal is good, by the time you post the seller has 10+ calls. Good deals get pounced on immediately. However, if you post and then seller gets 100 calls in addition to the origial 10+ it could very well kill the deal.
It can't help, it can only hurt.

+1

EDIT: I'm ASSuming this only pertain(t)s to Good deals. I posted a $2300 DH because that's not a good deal, and it has been posted for like 9 months. Of course the price did drop a little after I posted it...hmmm.

I have used that tactic as well. Let the seller see what people are saying, because if it is a bad deal posting it won't garner the seller anymore calls.

Why not..?
By the time we post it, the sharks have it anyway. Plus, some of the C/L ads are such a mess they are worth a good laugh.

I might be missing it. How is it screwing anyone?

It takes time to get to the seller's place. Some sellers will hold machines for a few hours so a buyer can drive out to get it. If someone posts it on here and the seller's phone and email explode he won't negotiate or worse yet he will change his mind. You also get the jerks that will email offering more. I have seen more than a few potential great deals turn into a bidding war. Once that happens it usually ends up being a bad deal because some bonehead will offer ebay prices for a game that may turn out to be trashed/have major issues.

Case in point the sttng I bought this weekend? Seller sent me a description and old photos. Said all three ramps were good (all three have cracks, alpha is bad, delta is missing a piece, beta has a small crack). Game was supposed to be fully working. Turns out that the tie back wire on the drop target was soldered to the wrong coil. Both of the subway diverters had locked on and melted. End result is the game is completely unplayable until I get parts in. Add to that there are wires soldered directly to the driver board, 2 lines were out on the dmd, 2 of the leg brackets are stripped, translite has multiple scratches, and probably more that I have yet to find.

Now, I am not faulting the seller. He was a nice guy and I made sure he tried to play the game before I got out there. We agreed on a final price before I got there and while I am going to end up dropping a large chunk of change I will be happy with the end result. On the other hand if I drove out there based just off the ad and he had his phone ringing off the hook, I would have gone home empty handed as he would be less likely to negotiate.

Every time I see people posting CL deals or Kijiji deals here or on MAACA I cringe thinking that they just increased exposure and probably the final selling price as well.

I say let people look for themselves if they are hunting for machines. If you want to tell an individual privately that's one thing, but exposing all the collectors just increases competition for and probably price for that unit.

I want to sell my machines for fair value if/when I do, but don't want things to get inflated and unaffordable.

Instead of Craigslist it was Ebay and instead of a pin it was vid.
There was a game (very rare) I'm been looking for a while. Well, I got an alert an Ebay
notifying me it popped up. Meanwhile, a guy posted a WTB ad looking for these games
and that particular game was on the list. I should mentioned, I was watching the views
this auction was generating before his post. Well, this guy chimes in a forum post, a link to the auction.
Noooooooo!!!!! It was amazing the views that this auction 'recently' generated after the post!

Now, I don't mind if you give him a tip on it. BUT, for the love of God, why didn't you just pm him instead?

Needless to say this story did NOT have a happy ending...

So, my take if I see a great deal on a pin I DON'T want and see a local pinsider that does - *PM* him!

No way! If I find something I'm not interested in I'll txt the local collectors or post it on our FB group. Posting it just ruins it..there's always the "Do you know what that thing is worth" e-mail from the jealous crowd 3000 miles away.

Then again the couple of us in the area aren't stepping on each other toes.

No, people should find their own deals. I have made a 14 hour round trip twice. Only to get there and find out someone else offered $50 more. I've made a 6 hour round trip and waited in the driveway for 3 hours only to give up and leave at 1am. Then I got a call the next day from the guy who bought it out from under me and he said he felt bad about doing that to me and wanted to make it right by selling me the machine for $300 more then what I was supposed to buy it for. Plus I would have to spend another $100 in gas going to get it. I won't post his name on a forum but I will give it to anyone who pm's me. I have been offered $500 more then my asking price for a pinball once but I already had a deal to hold it for a guy. 2nd guy said he could come that day with cash. Guess what, I held it for the first guy.

Two ideologies: one is looking out for others; the other is looking out for oneself. Since there less probability that any particular ad is going to affect any individual seeker, disseminate away. I write this having been frustrated on at least one occasion that this worked against me.

I highly doubt this. You are saying, that a smoking deal was posted to craigslist, then posted about on pinside. Then, someone on pinside saw the deal, called and got it at the advertised price? it's damn near impossible. There is no way the pinsider was first, and after being posted to pinside the persons responses will increase at least 10 times.

When people from all over the country start trying to buy the item, the seller wises up and the deal is gone for everyone.

I highly doubt this. You are saying, that a smoking deal was posted to craigslist, then posted about on pinside. Then, someone on pinside saw the deal, called and got it at the advertised price? it's damn near impossible.

Yes that is exactly what I am saying and it went to an active Pinside member. Others were interested but since I gave the seller a heads up that this is a serious buyer that knows his stuff the seller met with him first. No reason to lie and would be willing to bet most Pinsiders would take my word for it over yours. Just sayin.

No man, your not lying, but your situation has nothing to do with the topic. You're friend didn't get the deal because it was posted on pinside, he got the deal because you knew the seller. So, I guess I misunderstood what you said.

What we are talking about here are smoking craigslist deals being posted to pinside. By the time it's posted, the seller already has a ton of responses. Even after it's posted, you are helping out a ton of lurkers and only a very small handful of "pinsiders". Then the seller gets messages from all around the world, people offering more money etc and nobody gets the deal.

es that is exactly what I am saying and it went to an active Pinside member. Others were interested but since I gave the seller a heads up that this is a serious buyer that knows his stuff the seller met with him first. No reason to lie and would be willing to bet most Pinsiders would take my word for it over yours. Just sayin.

Two ideologies: one is looking out for others; the other is looking out for oneself. Since there less probability that any particular ad is going to affect any individual seeker, disseminate away. I write this having been frustrated on at least one occasion that this worked against me.

You're friend didn't get the deal because it was posted on pinside, he got the deal because you knew the seller.

Actually he got the pin because I posted it on Pinside otherwise he would not have known about it. The incident resulted in me meeting two very cool Pinsiders in my area so I am glad that I posted it. Either way it is clear I will not sway your opinion and you will not sway mine so got to go to each their own on this one. If I see a great deal that I am not interested in I wouldn't hesitate to post it here for others.

Post away, CL is a public classified, and this is a public form...early bird gets the worm. Is the problem really someone posting on pinside, or the boneheads that offer more?? We are all have the same hobby, but some of you guys are just out for youselves. to each his own...been a winner on this subject and a loser, but whos to say pinside really was the culprit??? day late dollar short

Post away, CL is a public classified, and this is a public form...early bird gets the worm. Is the problem really someone posting on pinside, or the boneheads that offer more?? We are all have the same hobby, but some of you guys are just out for youselves. to each his own...been a winner on this subject and a loser, but whos to say pinside really was the culprit??? day late dollar short

So then what's the point of posting it? Useless clutter on the forum? That's the way I see it, any locals are already emailing/calling so why bother. So everyone can say wish I was closer?

Not true at all. In your "looking out for oneself" scenario, someone has a shot at a game for a great price. In your "looking out for others" scenario, nobody gets a game at all.

In the process of looking out for one person, you are actually screwing another.

Yelper:

Again it seems that you depend on extreme examples, and that someone has to be blamed. Others have posted some good arguments that should be considered for not posting.

For example, last week a friend recently picked up an AFM for 5600 because another pinhead in the area let him know directly that he found it on CL. Had it been posted, surely I would have tried to jump on it as well as many others. In this case, it is a real world example of how it can be beneficial not to post. I am glad he got the game, and at the same time, I wish I would have had a shot at it.

Being new to the board, I have posted a CL ad because several posted that they were looking for the game in the ad. I wasn't aware of the sensitivities that some have on this. Now that I am better informed, I probably would follow the example of my friends above.